Cultic Studies JournalPsychological Manipulation and Society

John Collins describes his books as an introduction to
the major related topics and an attempt to explain why people join cults. He offers a few
definitions of the word cult
but then proceeds throughout the book to describe a wide variety of religious sects,
utopian societies, tribal groups, and the like that he considers representative of the
diversity available in the "supermarket of cults" (p. 110). However, his own
definition demonstrates the bias of his perspective. According to Collins, "Cults are
small, new, innovative, and marginal religious groups based on a charismatic
founder/leader who, based on some special supernatural knowledge and/or experience, is
capable of helping followers deal with their individual and/or societal
dissatisfactions" (p. 104).

Collins also ignores the vast and relevant literature on hypnosis and
suggestibility, on coercive persuasion and thought reform, and on the symptoms of dissociation and
posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) frequently observed in former cult members. Collins
considers brainwashing
to be merely a rationale for deprogrammed ex-members to account for how "silly and
naive" they were to join the cult. Thus, rather than hold the cult responsible for
its depredations, he blames those victimsex-memberswho become anticult
activists for their fervor, in contrast to the noninvolved former cult members who
"simply drop out of their cults" (p. 45).

Collins's book suffers from other serious flaws. He
minimizes the role of deception in recruitment by cults, the manipulative techniques used
to ensnare and hold new members, and the venal motives of so many cult leaders and their
lieutenants. He fails to address the psychological problems of
members who have been harmfully exploited and the trauma involved in coming
out of a cult. He ignores the medical literature on PTSD and dissociative disorder
seen in cult refugees. Finally, by discrediting the claims of cult victims and ignoring
the past 40 years of work on coercive persuasion, thought reform,
and the psychology of totalism, Collins lends legitimacy to destructive cults as they
continue in their greedy and ruthless pursuit.